These moose are locked in eternal combat in a window at the LL Bean store in Freeport Maine. Andrea Sachs went on a moose safari in Northern Maine near Moosehead Lake. She and Paul talk about moose encounters both real and imagined over the years. Her story in the Washington Post is a fascinating and very entertaining account of her moose safari in Maine. Here’s how it begins.

–In Maine, follow that moose— Ed Mathieu pulled the Jeep to the side of the road, the tires rumbling on the icy gravel. He jumped out, walked purposefully around the vehicle and squinted at the crusty snow. As he bent down for a closer look-see, I recognized his intense expression as the same one I’d seen on the faces of trackers on safaris in the wilds of Canada and Africa. Ed was staring at the past, described in a trail of footprints: A moose had been here. Now if only he could predict the future: that I would see a marvelous Maine moose. Setting out from Portland for the two-hour drive north, I was buoyed by the odds. According to state wildlife biologists, 75,000 moose reside in Maine, with about 1.3 moose per square mile in the Moosehead Lake vicinity. I knew from an earlier conversation with Ed, who runs Moose Country Safaris & Eco Tours, that we were going to canvass a wide swath of wooded land and shoreline near the lake. Since moose typically roam within a two- to four-mile radius, I imagined a veritable petting zoo of Bullwinkles. Read how it turned out